Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to keep tabs on thousands of contractors hired to manage more than 1 million foreclosed homes, possibly exposing the mortgage giants to double billing or charging for work that was never done, according to an alarming Federal Housing Finance Agency report.

Problems identified in the report, issued by the FHFA’s inspector general’s office, include “inadequate property inspections” by contractors hired to manage the day-to-day maintenance on foreclosed properties, as well as “insufficient controls to detect fraudulent reimbursement” by Fannie and Freddie.

“It is a huge failing on behalf of the mortgage giants,” said Anthony Sanders, a real estate finance professor at George Mason University. But typical behavior, he said, “of a monopolist or someone with too much market share or too much power.” (Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee about 60 percent of all mortgages in the United States, and have an even greater share of most new home loans).

No mention of the law firms that Fannie oversaw. Fraud in court, for example, in order to throw a family on the street, would seem to be improtant. Does the FHFA approve of home theft in the first place, so that houses can fall into ruin?